Ford Focus - Ford Focus Mk1 - Throttle body/spring

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Wed 10 Oct 2018 14:47
Ford Focus - Ford Focus Mk1 - Throttle body/spring - Sean Allen

Hi there!

I have an '02 Focus - served me well over the years. A few weeks ago I was driving along and the accelerator pedal got stuck on, as in fully depressed, and would not return to normal...! This was on a residential road, with other cars around. Luckily I was only going 20mph, had left plenty of space to the car in front, and there weren't many parked cars around. I whacked it into neutral (at which point it started redlining) and was able to coast to the side of the road and then get towed home later. Quite a hairy few moments - could've been much, much worse.

Anyway the problem seems to be the spring that returns the accelerator pedal back to normal, and presumably returns the throttle valve to closed. The spring is kaput - this is clearly visible under the bonnet. A neighbour (former mechanic) diagnosed this for me. Since the car isn't worth much anymore (£500 perhaps), and a garage would likely charge quite a bit for diagnostics/parts/labour, I'll attempt to fix myself.

My question is: is the spring I refer to part of the throttle body, or part of another part?

I can't find any reference to this spring online anywhere. I'm pretty confident that if it's part of the throttle body then I'll be able to replace that myself (part online for £30-£50), but I don't want to buy a new throttle body only to find that the spring is actually part of another part!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Sean

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Thu 11 Oct 2018 11:41
Ford Focus - Ford Focus Mk1 - Throttle body/spring - hardway

Don't you have a breakers nearby,

Well maybe not,

Even round me a lot have shut down,

Anyway if you do go there and look under a few bonnets.

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Mon 22 Oct 2018 17:37
Ford Focus - Ford Focus Mk1 - Throttle body/spring - Sean Allen

In case this helps anyone else in the future...

Indeed the spring I mentioned previously is part of the throttle body. I got a replacement throttle body through BreakersYard.com which cost £30 inc P&P (the range of quotes was about £20 to £100+). You need T20 and T25 Torx screwdrivers/Allen keys.

You first need to remove the air intake hose from the throttle body. There are four screws holding the throttle body in place (one on each corner) which you'll need to remove. You'll also need to remove the throttle cable (remembering to keep the small metal clip that helps hold it in place), as well as the electrics going to the TPS (throttle position sensor).

Once that's all off just do a straight swap with the replacement throttle body - throttle cable first (with metal clip), put the screws back in, and the electrics... reattach the air intake hose, and you should be away! (hopefully I haven't forgotten anything since doing it three days ago)

It started ticking over nicely, but my celebrations were short-lived as, upon testing, the revs would stay high for a few seconds when the foot was taken off the accelerator, and it was ticking over at c. 1.5k revs instead of c. 700. Quickly changed the TPS (which is part of the throttle body and held on by 2x T20 screws), putting the old one back on... and that did the trick!

I had the benefit of having an ex-mechanic neighbour helping me (especially diagnosis), but it wasn’t that difficult once we had the right parts and tools, just a bit fiddly in places (as always).

Hope this helps!

Sean

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